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After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, millions of Romanians emigrated in search of work and new experiences; they became engaged in an interrogation of what it meant to be Romanian in a united Europe and the globalized world. Their thoughts, feelings and hopes soon began to populate the virtual world of digital and mobile technologies. This book chronicles the online cultural and political expressions of the Romanian diaspora using websites based in Europe and North America. Through online exchanges, Romanians perform new types of citizenship, articulated from the margins of the political field. The politicization of their diasporic condition is manifested through written and public protests against discriminatory work legislation, mobilization, lobbying, cultural promotion and setting up associations and political parties that are proof of the gradual institutionalization of informal communications. Online discourse analysis, supplemented by interviews with migrants, poets and politicians involved in the process of defining new diasporic identities, provide the basis of this book, which defines the new cultural and political practices of the Romanian diaspora.
“The book is an interesting and informative read, a glimpse not only into the souls of individuals but also of their nation of origin that is not finished dealing with its past while wrestling with an uncertain present and future.” · Slavic Review
“…a well-researched and insightful book that contributes to our understanding of migrant activism, online transnationalism, identity formation, and online political participation.” · International Migration Review
“This was a high quality, well written manuscript on the Romanian diaspora. It was very informative, providing interesting commentary and information on a relatively unknown diasporic community.” · Eugenia Siapera, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I – DEPARTURES
The ‘Great Escape’: Defining Emigration as Social Transition and ‘Natural Selection’
Chapter 1. ‘Land Without Horizon’: The Post-communist Transition and Emigration as Political Act
Chapter 2. ‘Taking the Bull by the Horns’: Migrant Pathology and the Role of Diasporic Websites
PART II – ARRIVALS
‘Bread Tastes Better at Home’: The (Il)liberal Paradox of Western Societies
Chapter 3. ‘Waking up among Strangers’: Translation, Adaptation, Participation
Chapter 4. ‘Nobody Wants to Know Me’: Immigration Controls and Diasporic Associative Models
PART III – POLITICS
Diasporans Unite: Identity Politics and the Romanian Diaspora
Chapter 5. ‘Brothers, We Need to Do Something!’: Online Activism and the Politicization of the Diaspora
Chapter 6. ‘Languishing in Purgatory’: The Politics of Location and Homeland
Chapter 7. ‘America, Romanian Land’: Diasporic Identity Politics in the United States and Canada
PART IV – SECOND LIFE
‘Voir, c’est avoir à distance’
Chapter 8. Diaspora Online: Hierarchies and Rules
Conclusion: The Story Is Still Being Written
Bibliography
Index